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JULY 1, 2004 at 1:51 AM
Posted by CHEESER
Source: HPANA
After making international headlines and enduring the wrath
of Harry Potter author JK Rowling herself, the person responsible for releasing a false title -- Harry Potter and the Pillar of Storgé -- for the series' sixth book offers an apology and explanation in an interview with HPANA.
The real title of book 6 -- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince -- popped up on Rowling's official site just days after the hoax (perhaps because of the hoax?). It has since been confirmed by the author.
The prankster, a 19-year-old male student at the University of Florida, speaks:
Firstly I would like to offer two apologies. I owe an apology to all of the Harry Potter fans that I lied to; I never thought my hoax would go so far and I felt awful when some of you got so excited about knowing the title. I am sorry. I also would like to apologize to J.K. Rowling, as I did an awful thing by impersonating her. I consider her a literary genius.
In the end, the hoax was all in good fun. I thought the title was rather funny and had hoped that at least some people would get a good chuckle out of it.
And now, explained in full, here's what happened -- straight from the horse's mouth:
Do you have any official connection to JKR, Warner Bros., or the book publishers?
No, I have no connection to them whatsoever.
What made you think of doing this, and specifically, the timing of it?
I had recently finished a re-reading of Order of the Phoenix and it got me excited about the Harry Potter series again. As a result of that excitement, I stumbled upon JKR's website for the first time and was fascinated by the unopenable door. I also thought it was great that she was dispelling some of the rumors about the series. Somehow I put two and two together and the hoax clicked in my mind.
The timing of the event was never planned; it was simple dumb luck on my part that I released the hoax at the start of a weekend so that it [became] more effective.
How did you do it?
A hobby of mine is computer graphics/video editing, so I knew I could produce a realistic video. I realized that this was exactly what I needed to make the hoax believable.
I used two programs: Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects. In Photoshop I edited and manipulated pictures from JKR's site, and in After Effects I animated them into the finished video. I did not use [Macromedia] Flash at all. The blue bars (see image) at the bottom and top are a result of me changing the aspect ratio of the video without distorting it so that I could compress it into an MPEG file. I whipped the video up in about two hours.
As far as the "message" was concerned, I just tried to mimic JKR's style as much as possible. I came up with the title Pillar of Storgé, trying to formulate something with a hidden meaning that people would be able to figure out. It's an ugly title, but I'm quite fond of it.
What did you expect as a result of the hoax? Did you think it would receive the worldwide press it garnered?
I NEVER expected this much attention. I even wondered if anyone would believe it at all. My original goal of the hoax was that a rumor about the title would slowly creep through the Harry Potter community (much like the Green Flame Torch rumor), and that JKR would eventually dispel it as a myth (perhaps releasing some real information while doing so) on her site.
I never wanted the attention of all the Harry Potter fans; there was a clear and specific reason for the hoax and it involved the attention of only one woman. I was highly amused by the fervent guessing of the meaning of the title by eager fans and by the international press that it received.
Finally, a closing thought from the anonymous mountebank: "If I had not started the hoax, would we all know the real title to book 6 right now?" Read The Leaky Cauldron's analysis of that question. In the meantime, consider what an astute reader over there observed: Rowling said on her site that "as a little bonus, and compensation for having been messed around by Mr. or Ms. Storgé, I shall tell you one thing without making you shift any bricks at all: the HBP [half blood prince] is neither Harry nor Voldemort."
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Witch
Points: 902
magic is everywhere says:
If that was the title I would find it very hard to believe, I also took it as a rumour :)
Posted May 4, 2005 at 2:51 AM EST
Muggle
Points: 76
licklegherkin says:
i Didn't know anything about his hoax until now when I just read it. Oh well people do do these things.
Posted May 6, 2005 at 12:57 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 29
hermionefan12 says:
I thought it was pretty funny. It was a harmless hoax and the potter community as a whole benefitted from it.
Posted May 6, 2005 at 8:10 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 30
elitidmore says:
What a major moron!!!! Now the idiot thinks its okay and all and that it'll never happen again IT NEVER SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!!
Posted May 7, 2005 at 1:35 PM EST
Head Boy
Points: 458
#1:HarryPotterFan says:
Sure he should not have done it. But i dont think it was as big a deal as everyone was making it out to be... and u have to admit, it was a good hoax.
Posted May 8, 2005 at 6:49 PM EST
Witch
Points: 885
Rachyracho says:
I think this is so funny. I remember when this was all going on in the begining and it did look real. It just goes to show that you shouldn't believe everything you see.
Posted May 9, 2005 at 11:30 PM EST
Student
Points: 292
Nimbus2005 says:
It was a good one, yes!!! And I like the title too. Maybe this could be the beginning of a HP-like series of amazing books! :D
Posted May 12, 2005 at 12:40 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 31
PssdffJay says:
It was a joke. People shouldn't get so upset over it. There have been hoaxes everywhere for all time. For all of you that got you knickers in a bunch, chill out.
Posted May 13, 2005 at 3:10 AM EST
Witch
Points: 564
nevada pooh says:
It was a joke not a very funny one but, a joke none the less.
Posted May 19, 2005 at 1:44 PM EST
Witch
Points: 854
Khay says:
haha! thats funny! it drove me ABSOLUTLEY INSANE but when i look back...it is pretty funny! i don't hate him! but i do!!! but i dont! but it was very mean to get us all excited but HEY at least now we know the real one!
Posted May 19, 2005 at 2:04 PM EST
Witch
Points: 920
Moggiesmom says:
I wonder how many job offers resulted from his ability to create such havoc? If I had a high tech company, I'd offer him (or her) a job in a New York minute! Hey, it sure had us all going didn't it? I must admit I get really, really tired of that "do not disturb" door. ^..^
Posted May 24, 2005 at 7:46 AM EST
Prefect
Points: 348
bigmouthblair says:
I would offer him a job too... and we got extra information out of his being stupid!
Posted May 25, 2005 at 3:36 PM EST
Witch
Points: 972
animagus_1 says:
I think that he was very clever to be able to do such an elaborate hoax, but, I don't like people who mess with our heads like that.
Posted May 28, 2005 at 12:00 PM EST
Prefect
Points: 366
Ayesha***Yumna says:
AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGH!
He is a complete idiot. Mind you, he did a wonderful thing, though! He impersonated JKR, so its naturally a very very tough job, eh? Isn't it?
I hink most of us thought that it was the real name. But ofcouse, it was denied afterwards. But he did a thing for which he is worth calling "GENIUS"!
A HOAX? To mess with ALL the Harry Potter Fans? SIMPLY IMPOSSIBLE!
Posted May 30, 2005 at 4:47 AM EST
Auror
Points: 2454
HP_is_EXCELLENT says:
That was a pretty clever way of getting some attention even if you didn't want any. He probably was the reason she said what the real book title was.
Posted Jun 4, 2005 at 4:17 AM EST
Squib
Points: 181
Auror Jeff says:
I'll have to agree that it is rather funny now that we look back on it.
Posted Jun 4, 2005 at 11:42 PM EST
Squib
Points: 180
AurorMish says:
It was sort of a bad thing to do... he should have thought before he did it... but he was honest...
Posted Jun 5, 2005 at 2:25 AM EST
Squib
Points: 151
The Auror says:
Well you have to admit that he was good but in the end it was a good joke. But now we are warned and we will not fall for the same trick twice.:-D
Posted Jun 5, 2005 at 4:53 AM EST
Head Girl
Points: 401
Kelly2008 says:
So wait--did he hack into her website and make his little video thing appear on jkrowling.com, or did he just post it on his website or some other site?
Posted Jun 6, 2005 at 4:56 PM EST
Witch
Points: 870
caraMEL_penguin says:
hahahahahaha... was that suppose to be funny? anyways... well it sorta was... concidering that it got so much attention!!! I mean come on people... Jo said it herself... don't trust anything unless it is on her site... <33333
Posted Jun 9, 2005 at 10:56 PM EST
Order of Merlin, 1st Class
Points: 1970
Jekca says:
Frankly I find this all humerous. It was funny then, and even more funny when I knew it wasn't true. I hadn't believed it yet, but you know....
Then again, the real title is rather, well, silly. Then again, I shall make a new assessment once I have READ it. That may change my opinion.
Posted Jun 10, 2005 at 8:12 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 50
Aeon says:
This guy should be draged out into the street and beaten. I hope Mrs. Rowling SUES him. Joke indeed and if I could I would beat the crap out of him.
Posted Jun 10, 2005 at 8:45 PM EST
Head Girl
Points: 465
Eva Walker says:
This guy is phycotic! he needs to be put in an istitution. What a jerk! He is Un beleiveable!!
Posted Jun 11, 2005 at 5:42 PM EST
Prefect
Points: 335
Jamie loves Cedric says:
What that guy did was so wrong. He totally deserved what ever he got from J.K. Rowling. I just don't understand how he would ever think that it is okay to lie to tons of people about something that really matters to them.
Posted Jun 12, 2005 at 12:11 PM EST
Student
Points: 211
sillyally says:
Okay, so what he did was wrong. But we gotta hand it to him, if he wasn't so clever, he wouldn't have gotten away with it. And in the end, it was all just for fun.. so stop taking yourselves so seriously and loosen up! He has apologized and I'm sure he'd think twice, thrice or even four times before he even tries something like this again.
Posted Jun 13, 2005 at 12:08 PM EST
Squib
Points: 193
Hermione Jane ; ) says:
What I want to know is how he thought that he could get away with just a "creeping rumor" or whatever he called it, not a huge catastrophe, when he put it on Jo's site! How did he think that he could keep it small when it was so public? Nutter. Well, at least we got some info out of Jo for that one, but we would have known by now anyway, so was it really worth it?
Posted Jun 15, 2005 at 11:06 AM EST
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